Bahraini Development Minister Dr Fatima Al Balooshi has denied that the country has a problem with human trafficking. The minister claimed that the Bahraini government had taken all legal measures against human trafficking and had set up a social protection network to avoid it. The claim was made despite the fact that Bahrain has yet to enact a law against human trafficking, a measure which is still being discussed. The minister argued that since only five expatriate women had come to a shelter set up for them two months ago, there cannot really be a problem. It is, of course, possible that fear and constraint may prevent women coming to the shelter.
In November 2006 Special rapporteur for the UN Commission on Human Rights, Sigma Huda warned that, of the total 300,000 migrant workers in Bahrain, the 50,000 women were particularly vulnerable and that having been falsely promised decent work, they were often subject to 14-16 hour working days, imprisonment in the home if engaged in domestic labour, confiscation of passports, and even sexual abuse. Huda added; “Physical abuse is also a problem. Some victims told me of incidents of severe and traumatic abuse including mental and verbal abuse,”
In July 2006, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch organization warned that the 40,000 domestic workers in the country were vulnerable to abuse and that some could have been trafficked. There was also concern that such workers might not be covered by actions being taken by the Bahraini government.
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New York State is set to make human trafficking a felony punishable by up to 25 years in jail. There are also plans to provide additional support for victims who have been rescued. With the US State Department estimating that up to 20,000 people are trafficked into the US each year, new legislation is urgently needed. Gov. Eliot Spitzer said “Updating and enhancing our human-trafficking laws to adequately punish the perpetrators of these unspeakable crimes and sufficiently support victims is critically important,”
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http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004672.cfm

A millionaire couple were arrested on federal charges that they kept two Indonesian women as slaves in their swank Long Island home for more than five years, beating and abusing them and paying them almost nothing.

Authorities uncovered the alleged abuse after one of the women was found by police wandering outside a doughnut shop Sunday morning wearing only pants and a towel.

The homeowners, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, entered not guilty pleas Tuesday at their arraignment in U.S. District Court in Central Islip and were ordered held pending a Thursday bail hearing.

Prosecutors said the women had scalding water thrown on them and were forced to repeatedly climb up and down stairs and take as many as 30 showers in three hours — all as punishment for perceived misdeeds. In one case, prosecutors said, one woman was forced to eat 25 hot chili peppers at a time.

One woman told authorities she was cut behind her ears with a pocket knife and both were forced to sleep on mats in the kitchen. They were fed so little, they claimed, they were forced to steal food and hide it from their captors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Demitri Jones, who called the allegations “a case of modern-day slavery,” had asked that the homeowners be held without bail, but Magistrate A. Kathleen Tomlinson agreed to hold a bail hearing. The judge also ordered the couple, who are naturalized U.S. citizens from India, to surrender their U.S. passports.

Read more at

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/05/16/national/a062016D40.DTL&hw=human+trafficking&sn=003&sc=604

Indian Minister for Women and Children Renuka Chowdhury has said that the Indian government has decided to impose a ban on women under the age of 30 travelling to Gulf states, parts of Africa and southeast Asia, if they plan to become domestic maids, such is the fear that they will be trafficked into forced prostitution. The plan is due to cover 17 countries and where women are allowed to travel to work as maids it is being considered that they be forced to deposit their passports with the Indian consulate to avoid them being taken by traffickers. As may as 6 million Indians are working in the Gulf states alone.
Although positive action to prevent the plight of domestic workers is to be welcomed, it is important that women are not discriminated against by making migration harder, which may not only reduce their life choices, but perhaps push them into even more dangerous forms of migration.
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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=126&art_id=nw20070515092414612C289825

In 2003 Thailand passed a law against the trafficking of women and children, but now more stories about the trafficking of men from the country are emerging. The National Human Rights Commission has reported that in July 2003 six fishing trawlers sailed with a crew of 100 from Tha Chalom in Samut Sakhon province to fish in the waters around Indonesia. None of the crew was allowed home for more than three years. Thirty-eight of the crew died on the job. In response to this kind of exploitation a new memorandum of understanding on Common Guidelines for Concerned Agencies Engaged in Human Trafficking and the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Bill has been produced which would protect, it is hoped, even migrant Burmese, Mon and Karen workers like the men who were trafficked into forced labour. To read more about this and related subjects, please go to;
http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/05/14/headlines/headlines_30034148.php